Plot summary

Mrs Highmore asks the narrator to look through a book by Ralph Limbert which she deems artistic. The author works as a journalist for The Blackport Beacon to support his family. His attempts at writing trashy/journalistic pieces is to not avail, and he gets dismissed from his job for it. He is writing another novel entitled The Major Key - although it is said to be a good book it won't sell much, not enough for him to get married on. He goes on to publish other books without commercial success.

He subsequently takes up work for another newspaper which sets out to let him be more artistic. The narrator comes across a good review on his latest book from an American newspaper. Yet, as Mrs Highmore tells the narrator, Ralph gets dismissed again after having an argument with his editor over his elitist writings, the narrator's nagging advice, and comedian Minnie Meadows. The narrator reflects that Limbert is not capable of appealing to the masses.

Ralph then moves to the countryside, poor and humiliated as he is. He writes The Hidden Heart, which again is no success. Unable to afford to spend the winter in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

as he should on doctor's order, he writes another novel, Derogation, instead, and passes away before getting it published.

Characters

• the narrator
• Mrs Highmore
• Mr Cecil Highmore, Mrs Highmore's husband.
• Ralph Limbert, a writer.
• Mrs Stannace
• Pat Moyle, another writer.
• Lady Robeck
• Mr Bousefield, a magazine editor